Bahrain Protests: Court Orders Monitoring For 11-Year-Old

|
By REEM KHALIFA

Posted:
07/05/2012 8:12 am EDT
Updated:
09/04/2012 5:12 am EDT

A Bahraini anti-government protester holds up a child carrying a national flag toward riot police, Friday, June 15, 2012, in Karbabad, Bahrain, just west of the capital of Manama. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali) | AP

MANAMA, Bahrain — A Bahraini court ruled Thursday that an 11-year-old boy accused of taking part in anti-government protests may remain at home but must be monitored by authorities.

The ruling appeared to bring the case to a close.

Ali Hasan's case has been closely watched because he was one of the youngest demonstrators taken into custody in the unrest in the strategic Gulf island nation, which serves as the base for the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

Bahrain has experienced more than 16 months of near daily protests in an uprising led by the kingdom's Shiite majority. It seeks greater political rights from the Western-backed Sunni monarchy.

The juvenile court judge ruled that Hasan must be monitored by a social worker for a year, according to Bahraini authorities and the boy's lawyer, Shahzalan Khamis. Visits will be scheduled once every six months.

Hasan was detained in May on charges of joining an illegal gathering and other claims related to the unrest. The government alleges he was involved in blocking roads three times on May 13.

He was allowed to return home June 11 after a month in custody. The final ruling in his case wasn't reached until Thursday.

Even with the court's decision, Hasan's legal status remains unclear. Khamis, his lawyer, told The Associated Press that the charges against her client have not formally been dropped.

"The decision today condemns him indirectly," she said after the court's ruling. "I am not happy with the decision. This boy is innocent and did not commit a crime."

The government's Information Affairs Authority confirmed in an emailed response to questions that charges against the boy have not been dropped, but it did not clarify whether he had formally been found guilty of any crime.